


Hidden Heiress

by salty_fries



Category: Mamamoo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, F/F, sageuk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 08:00:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12649437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salty_fries/pseuds/salty_fries
Summary: Death was approaching  the throne. Hwan was no longer fit for king and his sons who he barely knew were thirsting for his crown.





	1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

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Hwan not spending even a dime of time with his sons meant that he could not justify a reason to select a heir and so he left a will. He commanded his right men to follow the monarch tradition 'The throne will only be passed on to the eldest son on the condition that he produces at least a son of his own.'

Yi San, his eldest son was next in line but none of his consorts he slept with bore a single son. He didn't want to lose his right to the throne but due to his unfortune produced 7 daughters. His brothers and the opposing factions could now claim Yi San as the unrightful heir, 'He hath yet to produce a heir and bearing more will taint the bloodline". However, Yi San did not give up but tried once more and this unborn child he would recieve drove his fate. 

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Yi San's deceased mother was an empress and thus the bloodline he possessed gave him the spotlight that his younger half-brothers envied. Being high in the family hierarchy drove his brothers mad. They were thirsting for an opportunity to turn it upside down even if it meant to kill him. 

Yi San could not give in to death if being on the throne meant he could live. And so the day came, his child he depended on arrived but to his disappointment, the child lead him into despair. He was frustrated but a speck of desperation drove him to share his fate with his newly born daughter. He disguised a significant part of her identity and gave her the title of prince Moonbyul. 

Byul's father had pinpointed how her future would be. He mapped out every single bit of her life hoping that there wouldn't be any potential loopholes. He believed they existed for his opposing factions and brothers to pry on and if found would put them in danger. 

Byul's daily regime consisted of wearing her royal attire and robes made only for the crowned prince, attending meticulous lessons with scholars, receiving private combat sessions, learning the arts and literature with other scholars. No one but the royal princes would receive this kind of education and all of this and every aspect of her life involved strict surveillance. Strict surveillance really meant that her natural female mannerisms and behaviours were omitted from prying eyes. Her father emphasised the importance of being accustomed to male mannerisms in the royal household and utmost in the public eye otherwise he could not guarantee he could sustain a favourable life for her. 

A few of Yi San's brothers had grown suspicious over the years. They sensed something odd about Byul's strict regime and were curious as to why she didn't share barely any lessons with the other princes. His brothers knew little about Byul and were hoping to grasp something that would put them in danger. 

On the next royal court gathering, the opposing faction in favour of Yi San's brothers had brought the idea of producing an heir in the near future. All factions agreed as they believed Byul needed an heir to secure the bloodline. 

So the factions proposed they would select candidates who were suited to become consorts. Yi San knew this was coming and wanted to reject this proposal but he was concerned this decision would cause an uprise in suspicion and so he accepted their offer. 

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Romantic relationships were definitely not what Byul had in mind with guys and especially girls as it was culturally absurd. It was all foreign to her and she thought of it as a luxury for the naive. She never saw herself in a romantic relationship with anyone and there were many reasons for that. She was so cultured in the royal household regime and severely focused on maintaining her current status and interest in liberal arts that she had not even a pint of interest in pursuing a romantic relationship. 

The opposing factions told Yi San's brothers,   
of his approval and found a suitable candidate. They needed someone to report anything strange about Byul and most importantly someone who could get close to her. 

Byul had received news of the consort selection from her eunuch and addressed her concern to her father. She was bothered by the fact that she may have to potentially sacrafice her own time to deal with girls who would likely, soon after, pick up some odd things about her. In fear that it would risk the reveal of her true identity, Byul begged her father to stop the proposal, but things weren't in her favour. "As an heir, you will find that the consort selection will attract countless eyes. Act as you would and don't avoid their company. You are utmost definitely not to steer them away from you on your own accord. Don't instigate more suspicion. Leave this to me, I will deal with it."

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Yongsun was a daughter of a yangban. Her father was a wealthy trader and driving force to Joseon's thriving economy. Albeit her father's status, her mother was his household servant. 

To her father, Yongsun was an accident. He had never acknowledged her as his daughter. However, he and also other yangbans in his social network had acknowledged Yongsun for her alluring beauty and talent for music. Her father saw it was fitting for her to become a gisaeng. What it really meant was that it was what he desired because yangbans admired yongsun so much, he wanted to use her to her full potential so he could gain their favour and support to expand his wealth.  

 

He had threatened her by risking her mother's wellbeing countless times for her to leave and become a ginseang. However, being Yongsun, she was stubborn and obviously not fond of the idea knowing that if she pursued his favours she would be away from her mother. 

Yongsun's father had received a black-market deal quoting a large sum of money from a member of Yi San's opposing faction. They had asked for Yongsun because she had what they thought was needed to lure Byul. Yongsun's father was fond of the amount and accepted the deal. However there was a condition, she had to be willing enough to carry out their favours. So Yongsun's father had made a contract, that if she follows the opposing factions orders he will set her mother and her free. 

*Gisaeng-A female entertainer or courtesan during Joseon Dynasty (https://thetalkingcupboard.com/resources/sageuk-glossary/)  
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Yongsun's first task was to win the royal prince's favour before other candidates do. After each encounter with the prince, she was secretly escorted to the opposing faction's headquarters to report on Byul.

"I can't deal with him! He literally sent me off on a scavenger hunt. He expected me to me to find my own way into his chambers and then decided to play hide and seek. I tried opening up to him and being as submissive as I could which I utterly dislike doing, offered to show my musical abilities, attended to his favours like searching for a novel that didn't even exist in a forest of bookshelves but he treated me like I was some rodent pestering in his presence."

 

 

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	2. Chapter 1

Despite being socially engaged during palace events and literary classes, Byul spent most of her time alone. Not because she wanted to, she was just used to it. The strict regime she’s been living out since she was born was one reason, and focusing on her current status was another. She had no room to build close bonds within palace grounds, not even with her half-siblings, and her struggle to maintain her trust in people didn’t help at all. And because of all this, she didn’t really have anyone to share her concerns about living a life with a part of herself masked, aside from her father who she rarely spent time with due to his current duty as King. Even though this regime would be potentially detrimental to her mental wellbeing, it was presently keeping her and her father away from their fated death.

Despite all this, she didn’t ‘mind’ being lonely. Actually, she was mindfully desensitised to her own loneliness but not at heart. She still felt it here and there, that emptiness and loneliness of course, but tried to avoid any thoughts that triggered them whenever she could by focusing on what mattered more to her, her potential title. A title, which could grant her the opportunity and power to give people access to justice in a world of injustice.

 

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Byul was having a day free of scholars, lessons and readings and had planned a search for medicinal herbs, particularly ones she could add to her encyclopedia of herbal remedies. Her current hobby was being a medical herbist, researching remedies for diseases and preventing those causing outbreaks she had heard from courtyard conversations. To keep her hobby though she kept it hidden. She spent those free days sneaking out of the palace which required her to once again mask her identity. She did that by disguising herself as an agasshi. That was really a chance for her to escape palace life, outwardly radiate her female self and explore life outside of the palace. When her sneak outs were deemed unsuccessful she spent her free time eavesdropping on political rallies and meetings.. maintaining her hidden underground makeshift laboratory she had made for herself, which she used to invest her medicinal remedy research.

Byul was in her royal chambers preparing for the second sneak out of the month. She rarely did it because palace sneak outs required hours of prepping and consisted of deviating her whereabouts from her several eunuchs and maids. There were many intricate details byul had thoroughly considered, one of which could easily be thought of but hard to come by. It was a vital factor in her escape plan and that was ‘timing’. It had to be a period where almost everyone too occupied and busy with palace chores and festivities to be aware of her activity within the palace.

Unfortunately, her plans were interrupted by the head eunuch who announced the factions had brought visitors for Byul. Considering the amount of effort put in to reach a decent level of progress in her escape plan, Byul was obviously annoyed and frustrated that her plans disturbed by a bunch of girls who she thought would be absurd to build romantic relationships with and impossible to have romantic feelings for. “Absolutely unheard of and out of societal norms,” she thought.

There was only a slight change to her plans “let’s try deviating my whereabouts from these girls who probably want the benefit of my title and my non-existent manhood”, ...“Two down one to go”.

 

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*Fast forward to the next day*

Byul was up early in the morning doing her routine reflection exercises often in her chamber or occasionally elsewhere when she didn’t want to be bothered by her eunuch, repetitively announcing or reminding her of her daily schedules. She spent these early mornings in her own thoughts, sometimes but rarely recording experiences, thoughts, observations of people, within the palace or outside palace grounds from her rare sneak-outs. It was usually expressed through drawings or in written form, sort of like a diary entry.

The eunuch announced that she would be expecting a guest in her chambers early this morning. “Who in the right mind would visit me at this unreasonable hour” Her eunuch did not reveal the name of the guest which was unusual for him to do so unless someone of a higher ranking invited a guess and requested them to be anonymously announced. Byul knew exactly who it was. She rushed her breakfast, returned to her chamber, gathered pillows from her bed, asked her assistants to set up a curtain covering. If a royal family member was not comfortable revealing their physical self, particularly when they weren’t presentable, they could request a translucent curtain in between them and the guest.

A shadow of a human body projected from the translucent curtain was somewhat forming, as byul placed her pillows. She sculpted a human shadow, dressed her decoy in her morning outfit and swiftly sneaked out of her chambers to the palace gardens.

Byul was sitting under a pergola doing her reflection activity hoping to be in peace. She felt a strange presence but completely ignored it wanting to be in the absence of any form of disruption for at least the morning. She focused on writing her short poem, oblivious to a hand sliding below her underarms. An instant grip to the corner of her page. Byul was way too absorbed in her writing which resulted in a delayed reaction. Then a swift pull, and her paper was taken captive. “Yahh, Bloody hell!” and as she turned her head, her poem was being read out. Byul quickly stood up to retrieve her paper but tripped over before she could even take a step forward. She looked down her leg where she felt restricted and her right ankle was cuffed. Her eye traced the chain, finding out what she was cuffed to… An ankle. “WHAT THE HECK”, “GET THIS OFF RIGHT NOW!” Byul looked up, it was that final consort candidate. That one person she was desperately was hoping for to quit pursuing the consort selection.

Yongsun completely ignored her and continued to read her poem out loud:

"What influences penetrate one’s mind…

The mental battles that are often fought…

The frustration, distress and fear of having no self-control…

The string of thoughts that are disconnected from their true identity…

The signals of concern that reach their mind…

The ambiguity that lies ahead…

Will it ever be known?

When most are too clueless

And thoughtless to care

When one’s true emotions are impalpable…

Then how will it ever be known

If they’re utterly voiceless

And enslaved by their own oppressions

“How can we know?”

Will it ever be known?"

 

“Seems like you have some trapped thoughts, care to share?, I’m here to listen if you want whatever you have in your head to be known, so spill whenever since I’m stuck with you,  a n k l e   t o   a n k l e.” Yongsun pulled a devious smirk. Byul was seriously annoyed “Take them off right now!” “I have better things to do”

 “Too bad… your schedules are all unfortunately set with me and that was decided due to a political rally, so don't put the blame on me” Yongsun continued. “Hey, this is not even comparable to what you put me through yesterday. I’ll remove the cuffs if I can get a genuine apology for putting me through your petty game”

“You don’t deserve one!”, “I can’t justify a reason to give you one” “You played along with it and therefore you’re not receiving an apology from me, ever”. Byul desperately tried to remove the cuffs on her own, smashing it with anything she could find, sliding it off, pulling the chain. Byul was getting impatient and fustrated. She tried to agitate Yongsun in every way she could hoping to get out of these cuffs, from giving her the silent treatment to forcefully pulling the chain wishing that she would trip...

 

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